This invention relates generally to a bat for the diamond sports and more particularly to a bat have a polymer shell. The present invention is directed generally to ball bats and more, particularly to an enhanced ball bat using a polymer shell. This bat uses an aluminum frame with a polymer shell formed around the aluminum frame. This invention is not limited to only an improvement in the hitting area of the bat, but can provide enhanced characteristics by using varying amount of coverage from a partial coverage to full coverage of the aluminum frame.
Proof of concept prototypes for both fast pitch and slow pitch models have been constructed and work exceptionally well. The fast pitch model consists of an aluminum frame and a polymer shell only. The slow pitch model consists of an aluminum frame, an aluminum shell, and a polymer shell on top of the aluminum shell. The polymer bat drawings included with this description provide a visual description of the present invention and show the general tolerances and construction for a polymer shell bat.
Softball and baseball are very popular sports. The technology used in diamond sports bats has exploded. The need for high performance bats has caused bats to become more and more expensive. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that bats must be capable of meeting the needs for high performance. Bats must be capable of being durable and perform well. To this end there have been several attempts to improve the performance of bats.
Several United States patents discuss sporting equipment using shafts or varying materials and their technologies including: U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,908, issued to Feeney et al. on Mar. 3, 1998, entitled Composite Bat With Metal Barrel Area and Method of Fabrication; U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,550 issued to Kingston on May 25, 1999, entitled Sports Bat Having MultiLayered Shell; U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,095 issued to Easton on Nov. 15, 1994 entitled Tubular Metal Bat Internally Reinforced With Fiber Composite; U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,090, issued to Cabales, et al., on Jul. 27, 1999, entitled Golf Shaft For Controlling Passive Vibrations; U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,673 issued to MacKay, Jr., on Oct. 12, 1999, entitled Hollow Metal Bat With Stiffened Transition Zone and Method of Making Same; U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,439 issued to MacKay, Jr., on Dec. 28, 1999, entitled Vibration Dampener For Metal Ball Bats and Similar Impact Implements; U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,282 issued to Kennedy, et al., on Feb. 8, 2000, entitled Ball Bat With Tailored Flexibility; U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,610 issued to Lewark on Mar. 14, 2000, entitled Reinforced Baseball Bat; U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,493 issued to Chauvin et al., on Mar. 28, 2000, entitled Tubular Metal Bat Internally Reinforced With Fiber and Metallic Composite; U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,827 issued to MacKay, Jr., et al. on Apr. 25, 2000, entitled Metal Bat With Pressurized Bladder In Hitting Zone and Method of Making Same; U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,828, issued to Pitsenberger on Apr. 25, 2000, entitled Softball Bat With Exterior Shell; U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,655 issued to Feeney, et al., on May 2, 2000, entitled Composite Bat With Metal Barrel Area and Method of Fabrication; U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,451 issued to Hillerich, III, et al., on Oct. 31, 2000, entitled Reinforced Wood Bat; U.S. Pat. No. 6,143,429 issued to Abkowitz, et al., on Nov. 7, 2000, entitled Titanium/Aluminum Composite Bat; U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,291 issued to Nydigger on Nov. 14, 2000, entitled Baseball Bat Having a Tunable Shaft; U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,826 issued to Lancaster, et al., on Nov. 21, 2000, entitled Glass Bat; U.S. Pat. No. 6,152,840 issued to Baum on Nov. 28, 2000, entitled Composite Baseball Bat With Cavitied Core; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,795 issued to Schullstrom on Jan. 23, 2001, entitled Aluminum Bat With Improved Core Insert. Each of these United States patents is hereby incorporated by reference.
Prior art bats have attempted to improve the durability of bats through thickening and/or strengthening the barrel section while leaving the handle and taper sections as light and bendable as possible. While the momentum of the bat provides most of the force to the ball in swinging a bat, bat bending or diving board effect also provides force upon the ball. Additionally, the hoop forces or trampoline effect also act on the ball.
What is needed then is a bat that performs better. This needed bat must have a strong and durable barrel. This needed bat must provide additional trampoline effect while not lowering the diving board effect. This needed bat must be easily and inexpensively manufactured. This needed bat must have the ability to be finished and decorated. This needed bat is lacking in the prior art.